The beginning...

At the Grand Palace
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We are about five days into our trip and going strong. The jet lag from 33 hours travel is still looming, but that will slow no one down. You will not slow me down! Where to begin... well, I am going to give you a cliff note version b/c I've been at this computer for over an hour trying to burn pics to a cd and having absolutely NO luck. I, of course, have been having all sorts of travelling side effects. The infamous bathroom runs, nausea, dizziness, lack of appetite, weird bumps and dots popping up on various places on my body, but that's cool. Okay, so it's not that bad... in fact, you get past that pretty quickly. I've come to realize that you just kind of take it all as it comes. That's been the beauty of it. Upon arriving in the Bangkok airport we quickly came across our first backpacker. Marc, from Holland, a very chill guy that's been travelling around Australia and Thailand for the last nine months doing nothing other than surfing. We shared a taxi to TH Rambuttri, where we quickly entered the first guest house of Sawasdee ("hello"), which we would later find out rests above a nightclub and next to a rooster hangout (literally handfuls of noisy roosters that wake up way earlier than I could have ever imagined). Noisy little buggers. After a three hour nap we set out to find my brother and Justine. The search lasted about thirty seconds b/c they were about ten feet in front of our guesthouse. Luck. What a wonderful feeling to see family in a country so far from home. I can only imagine that this will be quite the blessing for my homesickness throughout the next month. Thus far, we have visited the Grand Palace which houses many Wats and the Emerald Buddha. Absolutely gorgeous. I have never seen anything quite like it. Buildings made out of 24 kt gold... monstrous buildings that are covered in mosaic glass... breath taking. We have taken many a river taxi, which has become my new form of favorite public transportation. What's not to love about getting from place to place via river? Oh, speaking of transportation, holy hell.... why didn't anyone warn me about the crazy moto and tuk tuk drivers?! I've never seen anything like it. My newfound friend Ching says that it means we are surrounded by "good drivers." I'm not quite sure if driving down sidewalks with elbow to elbow persons qualifies you as a good driver, but I'll go with it b/c I am certainly no expert on good drivers. This is growing in size... guess you aren't getting the full cliff note version, I just feel like I've done and seen so much. Highlights: street food, trying to find allergy medication in Hong Kong, witnessing a thai funeral procession, daily monsoons, the children, lack of sleep, lychee fruit, china town and it's mass chaos, being told that I am welcome in this country b/c I'm from Canada, chanting monks in the streets, Mr. Yim's, leaving milk out for the stray kitties, being interviewed by thai students trying to learn english... the list goes on. For the sake of your time and energy, I will leave you with my favorite moment. The past four days I have been obsessed with the Thai Police, in my book "Thai-Po". The Police Station is next to our guesthouse and they seem to ALWAYS be hanging out in the parking lot below our window. By hanging out I mean drinking TALL beers at 6:30 in the morning until 8 o'clock at night. I love them. I can't stop watching and observing their every move. The other day, during a monsoon, the front desk gent went out and walked each policeman one by one with his umbrealla under a covered area so that they wouldn't get wet He then proceeded to bring them more beer. Everything about them... they have great posture, they look so clean and proper, they're always smiling, never hasseling anyone... just wonderful. I can't describe to you the fascination that I have with them. It went from conspiracy to respect. Every day we greet one another, but not too much more. Well today I had it. I NEEDED to talk with these men in uniform. So, I approached one and asked him how to say Police in thai... he replied, "you need room here?" After a difficult translation process I had my answer. I left quite happy. About an hour later I was walking over to grab my brother and Justine from their room when I hear, "Jillian... Jillian..." I turn to see about six 'dhambruhah' (policemen) sitting around a crate in the parking lot. There are glasses, buckets of ice, bottles of Seagrams and coke all over the place. My buddy Tommy is waving me over, along with his other thai-po buddies. "Sawasdee-ka!" Before I know it, I'm drinking straight whisky with the thai police force. My immediate question is, "you on break? Working?" They giggle and reply, "no, no... work finished. Time for relac." I've never drank a full glass of whisky before, but needless to say, tonight I sure did. My brother came down the stairs to see me with my new friends and he says, "there it is. I knew it was a matter of time before you'd have your picture taken with these guys." He joined us and they were very quick to tell him how sexy he is b/c of his amazing chest hair. Ha... just last night we were laughing at Chrissy's expense over his untamed fur. Chuckle, chuckle. Tommy, like the jeans (as Chris would say), invited me to go drinking with the police force tomorrow out on Kho San. Sadly, I had to decline b/c we're headed to Khoratt first thing in the morning. With that I will retire. Hope that you found that as genuine as I did.